Social media. Those two words alone can exhaust me most days. I wonder if I would feel differently if I wasn’t a small business owner. As it is between business and personal, I am running so many social media accounts that I actually have an account management system to help me keep track of them all. (Photographers, check out CoSchedule; it has saved me!)

Of all of the social media platforms though, Instagram is by far my favorite. Because there is no easy way to run more than one account (hint, hint, Instagram; get on this!), I decided back in the beginning to keep business and personal combined on that particular platform. It’s a hodgepodge of my life in a very genuine form since it includes my work, my home life, and, of course, my baby.

Remember a few years ago when I first blogged about how I make a yearbook? You may be surprised to know that I’m still trying to keep up with that, though admittedly, 2015 is off to a bad start since I’m putting all of my free time into Henry’s baby book instead. I love the idea of having a yearbook filled with all of our memories, but I also love the idea of an easy, affordable, and quick way to page through our memories.

So when I heard about Chatbooks, I was intrigued. My favorite social media platform mixed with an affordable print service so I can get my hands on the photos I post? Hmmmm…

I had a code to try a book for free (you can use this code to get your first book free too!: AE2ZLHZW) so I figured there was no harm. Now, the best part of Chatbooks is that they offer a way to include only certain hashtags. I was interested in printing photos of Henry and since I use the hashtag #henrycrall for all of his photos on Instagram, this was super, duper easy! I can continue ‘gramming to my heart’s content, but only the photos with that hashtag will pull into his book series. I can also go into the app and include or take out photos (if I forgot to include the hashtag in the post or if there’s one that has the hashtag, but I’d rather the photo not be in the book).

I have already thought of several people who could benefit from this:

1. This would be a great way for photographers to print off their work for a snapshot view for clients (if they use hashtags for their business). Or venues, or florists, or any small business owner!
2. I also think couples who use a hashtag for their weddings would love these books. Imagine if you could pull in all of the photos your guests took!
3. And of course, busy mamas who love to Instagram, but don’t have time to create a baby book. This would be a really easy way to do that. (You could use a private account to post all your photos to if you don’t want to go crazy on your public feed.)

Chatbooks’ customer service has been wonderful. I was having trouble in the beginning with a few images not auto-pulling from the hashtag and their response time was quick and they were very helpful in getting it all fixed for me.

It’s $6/book (each book is 60 pages) which is a very affordable way to get your photos into your hands. The quality is not the professional level that I provide my own clients (duh), but for $6, it’s an amazingly easy and organized way to get your own personal photos printed. Once you have your book series all set up, it will auto-print/ship every time you get to 60 pages.

Go ahead. Get those photos off your phone.